Day 963

The heat is relentless. Since today was one of my two official weekly "watering days," I turned on the sprinklers before breakfast this morning. I gave the yard a good soak, but within a few hours it was bone dry again. It's going to be an uphill battle keeping the remaining vegetation  alive for the rest of the Summer. Lack of rain isn't the only problem the yard is facing either. Yesterday, I noticed a huge flock of small birds descend on the back yard and begin carefully pecking at something. At first I though the birds were eating bugs, but then I noticed that they were eating seeds. They were eating all the Rye grass seed I had sowed just one day earlier! No wonder I'm having trouble filling in the dead spots in the St. Augustine grass. The birds are eating all the seeds before they even have a chance to sprout.  Why couldn't the birds have gone after all the spiders in the yard? We have enough spiders to feed a small army of hungry birds.

When I was grocery shopping today, I couldn't resist picking up a 12-pack of Shiner beer. Yeah, I know. I can't drink any more. Although it was tempting, I didn't crack open a cold one when I got home. I just put the beer away for a special occasion. The times when I'm in a genuinely celebratory mood are so few and far between that I figure the occasional alcohol purchase couldn't possibly hurt my health. With the way things have been going lately, that little cache of beer should last me till Christmas.

Yesterday's U-verse repair seems to be working. The broadband signal hasn't gone down once since the technician installed the new gateway. Now, the only problem I have with AT&T is that they keep taking away my favorite channels and replacing them with programming that I wouldn't watch if you paid me. We've lost three or four channels already and just a few days ago, we lost another. When I tuned in today to watch one of my favorite shows, I was greeted by another Spanish language channel instead of the program I wanted to watch. Jeez, how many Spanish language channels do you need AT&T?  I would think 25 of these ridiculous channels would be enough. Maybe I just don't fit the demographic profile of the customer that U-verse is looking for. Oh, well. We could always switch back to Time Warner Cable I guess. It would certainly be easy enough. The cable guys didn't even bother to take down their wires when we switched services.

Tomorrow is dog park day. The grass up at the dog park is still nice and green. It's nice and green because the city doesn't think it needs to follow the same watering rules it imposes on everyone else. The dog park looks like it gets watered every day.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 894

Dot and Dash had great fun meeting some other Dalmatians we know at the dog park today. The Dalmatians got so much attention that I started to wonder what would happen if even more Dalmatians appeared? What about 101 Dalmatians? It might be possible. I know that there are hundreds of Dalmatians living in the Metroplex. I've probably photographed 500 myself over the years. Janet and I are thinking of inviting all the Dalmatians we know to come to the park next weekend. If we could get a good showing, it would be quite an event. I bet if we could get 101 Dalmatians to show up, it would make the local news. We might get a write up in the local paper, or even a YouTube video that goes viral. It's worth a try anyway.

I wish the weather would stay like this all Summer. It was about 85 degrees with a nice breeze when I was out and about today. You can't get much better than that. When it's warm, but not oppressive, everyone is happy. The dogs like their walks, I'm able to work in the yard, and the electric bills are reasonable. We'll see what happens in July, but I have a feeling that nice days like today will just be fond memories when Summer really arrives.

I can't decide whether tomorrow will be a holiday or not. Some of my clients will probably send me things to do, even though I wish they would just take the day off. I think Janet has work to to too. We'll probably compromise. We'll sleep in late, but when we finally do get up, it will just be a regular workday.

We had a great holiday feast tonight: home made cheeseburgers, french fries, onion rings, cole slaw and Shiner beer. Since I'm trying to save my liver, I rarely get to drink beer anymore. This was a real treat for me. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get to enjoy some of my favorite beer again on my birthday.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 782 - Superbowl Sunday

It was a good game this year. Actually, it was a great game. These weren't my two favorite teams, but they both played the kind of football that kept you on the edge of your seat until the final seconds. This year the game itself was a lot better than the commercials and halftime show. Madonna was a bit of a disappointment. Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and Prince were much better. Call me old fashioned, but the commercials have been going downhill for quite a while now. Nothing this year even came close to Apple's classic 1984 commercial or Coke's 1980 Mean Joe Green spot. Even last year's Darth Vader spot for Volkswagen was better than anything I saw this year.

Before the game I went to the Culwell & Son Superbowl Sale. I love this sale and go every year. The sale only lasts five hours, but it's the only time of the year when I can really afford these clothes. After I stocked up on bargain Robert Talbot and Ike Behar shirts, I noticed that my car was parked right next to a shiny new Fisker Karma. Jeez, what was someone who could afford a $116,000, 125 mph electric hybrid doing shopping at a 75% off sale? I backed out of my parking slot real carefully, because I definitely didn't want to hit this car.

The dogs had a great time at the dog park today. It was colder than usual and the cool air made all the dogs frisky. Even Dot was in a playful mood, which is almost unheard of. We stayed at the park longer than usual, but Dot and Dash still weren't ready to go when we finally left. I think if we left things up to them, they would have stayed the entire afternoon.

All in all, it was a great day. The dogs are happy. We watched some exciting football. I enjoyed a couple of Shiner beers with some fabulous cheeseburgers. I scored some great bargains on my favorite menswear. I even took a nice moonrise picture on our evening walk. Tomorrow it's back to reality.

Dalmatian of the Day

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